Ask the Burke: What’s a potlatch?

Experts at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture answer your questions in the latest installment of Ask the Burke. Got a question for next time? Send it here.

What is a potlatch?

A potlatch is an important Northwest Coast ceremony which involves public demonstrations of inherited privileges. Native cultures from across the Northwest Coast hold potlatches, such as the Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuxalk, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit.

Potlatches are held for a variety of reasons: memorializing deceased relatives, celebrating marriages, raising houses or monumental poles, installing a new chief, and naming children. A potlatch can also re-assert the social status of the host family. As part of the ceremony, the host family may renew ownership of inherited songs, dances, and rituals by performing them before invited guests. In return for witnessing these privileges, guests are feasted and given gifts by the host.

Portrait of a group of Haida Indians in ceremonial costume at the last formal ceremony in the village before it was abandoned, Klinkwan, Alaska, 1901. They pose with carved figures and masks in front of House Standing Up, the home of a former chief. After the potlatch, the tribe left the ceremonial attire, which includes shaman’s hats, carved helmets, blankets, and painted capes, and moved to the town of Hydaburg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1885, potlatching was made illegal in Canada as part of assimilation polices instituted by the Canadian government. The ban on potlatching in Canada stayed in place until 1951, when it was finally removed. Though it was not technically illegal to potlatch in the United States as it was in Canada between 1885 and 1951, social pressure from missionaries and government agents combined to produce the same effects.

Some communities continued to potlatch in secret during the early 20th century, but for many Native people the effects of the potlatch ban were devastating, as they became more isolated from their ancient traditions and cultures. However, recent decades have brought a strong revival of traditional ceremonies and potlatches are now widely practiced along the Northwest Coast.

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